3/100 - Lucas

This is Lucas. He is half Japanese and half Polish, and speaks excellent English. He works in a team with Mounia, Stranger #02. It was already evening and they had had a long day in the cold, but he managed to look quite cheerful for his photo, which I really liked. I wish everyone could be this chirpy at the end of their work day - including me, who was also after work and feeling slightly worse for wear. And I wasn't even outside in the cold. Respect for Lucas and Mounia!

2/100 - Mounia

The weather has been awful lately, so it's been difficult to go stranger-spotting. Still, I carried my camera with me every day to work, because you never know what opportunity might come along. Today it did. In the morning I saw a Muslim lady in a headscarf with piercings and lashings of red lipstick - she looked great and I asked her for a photo. She agreed but was in a rush, and changed her mind before I could click the shutter button, so that didn't work out.

After work I headed for the bus stop and there was a woman trying to talk to passersby about charity donations, to get their details. I've been thinking about choosing a charity to donate to every month, just never really got round to researching them, so when I saw her I thought I might as well stop and hear what she has to say. We talked for a bit but turns out I had to give my contact details so someone could call me to discuss it further. It's a well-known charity so I wasn't too worried about my data being sold to third parties,  but didn't feel like it was necessary to provide it since I could look everything up online anyway. Still, the woman said it would help her in her job if I gave my details, so we made a deal - I can take her photo for this project if I provide them. She crossed the street with me and there were two of her colleagues who looked interested when I told them about the project and were happy to participate. One of them was Mounia.

The light was fading fast so I had to be quick - my camera did pretty well under the circumstances but it's still a bit too dark I feel. Then again, it looked OK in Photoshop and now in .jpg it's not as good - that's colour calibration for you... Despite the technical flaws I think she has a very sweet smile, reflecting her friendliness towards me, the random and probably weird-looking person with the big camera. The photos of her colleague who led me to her didn't turn out well so won't be included in the project - but she led me to Mounia so it wasn't all useless!

1/100 - Kate

I spotted Kate on Camden High Street on my way to work this morning. In the last few days I have carried my camera to work with me (I tell you, carrying a DSLR in a women's handbag is both uncomfortable and painful) but didn't see anyone walking slowly enough for me to dare to approach them. Then Kate came along, wearing that unmissable blue helmet and a very stylish outfit that complemented her retro bike really well. She also looked a lot like Adele - those cheekbones! - which drew my attention after I initially saw the helmet. Kate studies Fashion Marketing at university and was on her way there when I stopped her. 

She immediately agreed to a photo, and I was so nervous I only took this one shot of her, not wanting to hold her up. Due to the nerves I missed the focus on her face by a few inches, which I am unhappy with but there you go. As the first photo in this series I am still quite happy with it, though the background could be better. I'll have to learn to calmly consider my surroundings for these photos.

I have to say, I got quite a buzz from the experience, must be the adrenaline. If so, it is probably addictive, meaning I will just have to go out and take more photos of strangers... ;)

About the 100 Strangers Project

The idea of this project comes from a flickr group that is dedicated to users sharing their photos and stories of their 100 strangers. 

The project involves the photographer asking random strangers for their photos, and hopefully for a bit of information about them. It's a great way of practicing not only photography but people skills. It takes guts to go up to a stranger, talk to them and not sound like a stalker/prat/weirdo. It is also a way of paying more attention to your environment, establishing a connection with people you would normally ignore or pass by without a word, even though you find them interesting. I work in a trendy area of London full of interesting faces and until now I have always felt it was such a shame there was no way I could get to know them a little more. That is about to change!

In this blog I will document my journey and hopefully, when I look back at the end, I will be able to see a positive improvement in both my photography and my way of approaching people. Who knows, I might even do another round of the project if I end up loving it - I've seen people in their third or fourth rounds!